have not known: I will make
darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will
I do unto them, and not forsake them."(575)

The announcement which had been made by the disciples in the name of the
Lord was in every particular correct, and the events to which it pointed
were even then taking place. "The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is
at hand," had been their message. At the expiration of "the time"--the
sixty-nine weeks of Daniel 9, which were to extend to the Messiah, "the
Anointed One"--Christ had received the anointing of the Spirit, after His
baptism by John in Jordan. And the "kingdom of God" which they had
declared to be at hand, was established by the death of Christ. This
kingdom was not, as they had been taught to believe, an earthly empire.
Nor was it that future, immortal kingdom which shall be set up when "the
kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole
heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High;" that
everlasting kingdom, in which "all dominions shall serve and obey
Him."(576) As used in the Bible, the expression "kingdom of God" is
employed to designate both the kingdom of grace and the kingdom of glory.
The kingdom of grace is brought to view by Paul in the Epistle to the
Hebrews. After pointing to Christ, the compassionate intercessor who is
"touched with the feeling of our infirmities," the apostle says, "Let us
therefore come boldly unto _the throne of grace_, that we may obtain
mercy, and find grace."(577) The throne of grace represents the kingdom of
grace; for the existence of a throne implies the existence of a kingdom.
In many of His parables, Christ uses the expression, "the kingdom of
heaven," to designate the work of divine grace upon the hearts of men.

So the throne of glory represents the kingdom of glory; and this kingdom
is referred to in the Saviour's words, "When the Son of man shall come in
His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the
throne of His glory: and before Him shall be gathered all nations."(578)
This kingdom is yet future. It is not to be set up until the second advent
of Christ.

The kingdom of grace was instituted immediately after the fall of man,
when a plan was devised for the redemption of the guilty race. It then
existed in the purpose and by the promise of God; and through faith, men
could become its subjects. Yet it was not actually established until the